Dover boy’s birthday has a distinctive twist

Published: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 05:54 PM.

Matthew said, “I like playing football and baseball, and basketball a little bit, and I like to fish. During the summer we go to our river house in Oriental. I fish and swim and go crabbing.”

His Mom said he has played recreation team football and baseball but what he loves most is hunting — deer hunting, bear hunting, just being outdoors.

An honor roll student particularly good at math, Matthew also enjoys helping his grandmother bake or rake, she said. “He’s just a good boy.”

“He is an avid animal lover and has already decided what he wants to be – a wildlife biologist,” April White said. “He wants to study at N.C. State and we all pull for Carolina so I see some rivalry down the road.”

Dorothy Jones said one of his grandfathers nicknamed him “Matt Dillon” (the marshal from the old TV series, “Gunsmoke”) because of his name and how much he liked guns and hunting.

DOVER — If there is a magic number, 12-year-old Matthew Jones hit the jackpot today.

Born on the 12th day of the 12th month, this birthday adds being 12 in the 12th year of the millennium to the sequence for a young man whose mother, April White, described as “a miracle” already.

Matthew Dylan Jones was a twin from a difficult pregnancy; he is the one who survived, said White, who was then married to Scotty Jones of Maysville. They have two other children, Courtney, 16, and Dakota, 14, who all now live with April and Jason White on Tilghman Road.

Matthew, a sixth-grader at Woodington Middle School in Lenoir County, was a premature baby born 19 inches long, weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces at 3:38 p.m. Dec. 12, 2000.

When he was just a few days old, he played Baby Jesus in Maysville United Methodist Church nativity program and grandmother Dorothy Jones proudly keeps the photo under glass at her Maysville home with husband, Roger Jones.

He may not have been marking the days of his life since birth, but recently his mother and grandmother said he has been counting down the days to his special birthday on Facebook.

Also counting down the days are his other grandparents, Tom and Cynthia Jones and Roy and Nancy White, all of Dover.

Matthew said, “I like playing football and baseball, and basketball a little bit, and I like to fish. During the summer we go to our river house in Oriental. I fish and swim and go crabbing.”

His Mom said he has played recreation team football and baseball but what he loves most is hunting — deer hunting, bear hunting, just being outdoors.

An honor roll student particularly good at math, Matthew also enjoys helping his grandmother bake or rake, she said. “He’s just a good boy.”

“He is an avid animal lover and has already decided what he wants to be – a wildlife biologist,” April White said. “He wants to study at N.C. State and we all pull for Carolina so I see some rivalry down the road.”

Dorothy Jones said one of his grandfathers nicknamed him “Matt Dillon” (the marshal from the old TV series, “Gunsmoke”) because of his name and how much he liked guns and hunting.

“I do like guns,” Matthew said. “I like BB guns and hunting rifles.”

So far this year he has killed five deer.

“My Dad does the cleaning — they think I’m too young for that,” he said, but he enjoys the venison.

April White said, “He is excited, but maybe not as excited as his family. We’ve all talked about it with grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins and it’s a big deal to us.”

Sue Book can be reached at 252-635-5665 or sue.book@newbernsj.com. Follow her on Twitter@SueJBook.